Flames never ask for permission to burn. Neither does truth.
The stone stairway wound deeper into the belly of the mountain, each step shedding light and drawing shadows tighter around Shen Li's shoulders. The forge's residual heat faded with every level, replaced by a cold that hummed with memory.
He stopped before a sealed door veined with crimson sigils. The flame key in his palm pulsed in response, sinking into the pattern. The door groaned open.
Yi Wuren stood in the dark.
He was not chained. There were no manacles, no suppression arrays. Only ash, layered thickly like dust from a thousand forgotten fires, and stone walls scarred with old blasts of soulfire.
Wuren turned his head slowly. His skin shimmered with flame-veins beneath the surface—subtle, eerie. His eyes had no whites anymore, only embers in the shape of pupils.
Shen Li held his ground.
"You wear your father's face," Yi said at last, "but your flame is different. Wilder. Untamed."
"I'm not him."
"No. He would have come to strike me down."
Shen Li walked to the edge of the barrier circle etched into the floor, barely visible now. "He sealed you."
"He buried me," Yi replied. "So they could tell their story without me in it."
Shen Li's hands were loose at his sides, but his core was tense. Yi was fire on the verge of breaking form—contained for now, but unpredictable.
"What truth were you silenced for?" Shen Li asked. "The records say you turned on the sect."
Yi's laugh was dry. "The records also say your father died peacefully. Do you believe that too?"
Shen Li's eyes flickered. He didn't answer.
Yi sat slowly on a smooth slab of obsidian. "Your father and I—Yun, Kaiyuan, all of us—we forged Emberheart in war. But after the Sect War, they feared what we had become. Too many disciples craved power, not wisdom. The elders demanded control."
"And you refused."
"I refused to let our flame become a leash. I wanted disciples to burn brighter, not bow lower." Yi looked up, firelight dancing in his gaze. "Your father saw danger in that. Kaiyuan saw opportunity. And Yun… saw both."
Shen Li stepped closer. "You still haven't said what you want."
"I want Emberheart to remember."
Yi Wuren raised his hand. A violet flame flickered to life in his palm, forming into the shape of a lotus. It pulsed like a heartbeat.
"I don't expect forgiveness, Shen Li. But I expect recognition. The council that sealed me lied to protect itself. Kaiyuan is using that same lie now—to bury you."
Shen Li's core fire rippled beneath his skin, reacting to the proximity of Yi's flame.
"I know Kaiyuan's game," he said. "I just don't know how far he's willing to go."
"Far enough to burn you in public," Yi said. "Quietly. Legally. Elegantly. The way cowards do."
Shen Li stared at him. "So help me. Tell me what you know."
Yi rose slowly, the flame in his hand vanishing into his skin.
"My terms haven't changed: I walk free."
"You want sanctuary."
"I want to be seen. Heard. Not exonerated—just not erased. You're the only one who can make that happen."
Shen Li paced once in silence. Every instinct screamed that this was wrong. Dangerous. Foolish.
But the danger was already at his back. And the only way forward was through fire.
"I'll name you witness," Shen Li said. "But if you turn that fire on the sect, I'll end you myself."
Yi grinned. "Then we understand each other."
By dawn, the Grand Courtyard was full.
Low-ranking disciples stood in tight ranks along the edges. Elders sat behind spirit barriers that shimmered faintly under the rising sun. Whispers moved like wind through dry leaves.
At the center, Elder Kaiyuan stood before a stone podium carved with the sect's crest—now covered by a veil of mourning black.
"A sacred boundary has been disturbed," he said, voice amplified by a subtle casting. "A seal broken. An ancient traitor loosed."
The crowd murmured. Shock, confusion, eagerness. Shen Li was not yet present, and that silence spoke volumes.
Kaiyuan continued.
"This is not an accusation. It is a call to clarity. The heir must answer. Before us all."
Lan Xueyi stood beneath a tree near the outer edge of the dais, arms crossed beneath her sleeves, expression unreadable.
Behind her, Elder Yun watched, stone-faced.
Then—
The mountain trembled.
A single deep pulse, like something breathing far below.
Every flame in the courtyard flickered—then brightened.
The air shimmered with the heat of ancient power.
From the northern stair, Shen Li emerged.
Ash-streaked. Silent. Alive.
Behind him came Yi Wuren, shrouded in a flame-forged cloak, his face exposed to the rising sun.
Gasps broke across the courtyard.
Disciples backed away.
Elders rose to their feet.
Kaiyuan's voice wavered—just once.
"You walk with a traitor."
"I walk with the truth," Shen Li replied. "And I'll speak it to all who'll listen."
He stepped onto the platform.
Yi Wuren said nothing—but his very presence shattered the silence.
Shen Li's voice carried across the stunned gathering.
"You want a trial? Fine. Let's burn the lies first."